A police officer attracted a lot of attention while offering directions to a passenger at the railway station of Guangzhou yesterday.

The reason for all the curiosity was that he never once opened his mouth. And that was because he was using sign language to communicate with a deaf-mute woman.

The woman from southwest China's Sichuan Province, walked away satisfied after being told what she needed to know.

"In the past, I just had to guess when deaf people asked me for directions," the officer, Zhu Lei, told Xinhua.

He said he would sometimes ask a deaf-mute person to write down their question so he could understand them.

Zhu, 24, is one of 30 railway police officers who have mastered sign language in this Guangdong provincial capital.

The specially trained officers began their patrols of the station's central square this week, ready to help those in need.

The Guangzhou railway authorities has apparently taken the lead in this southern metropolis to offer such training to police.

The first group of officers to receive sign-language training came from the departments of criminal investigation, social security, logistics and traffic.

In addition to teaching sign language, professional teachers from local schools for deaf-mutes were invited to give lectures on how to communicate effectively with people with hearing difficulties.

The training courses also included instructions on helping deaf-mutes and how to communicate with those involved with criminal cases as well as what to do in emergency situations.

Peng Feiyang, a sign-language teacher, said a special textbook had recently been compiled for the police to help deaf-mutes in the city.

Railway police were required to learn sign language after they cracked a gang last year that included many deaf-mutes.

A police officer from Guangdong provincial bureau of public security said his bureau encouraged the province's frontline police officers to learn more skills, including sign language.

Many local residents praised the sign-language training course.

"The police can better serve the deaf-mutes if they have mastered sign language," Chen Yunshan, a female office worker, told China Daily yesterday.

(China Daily April 18, 2007)